Refrigerator appliances generally include a compressor. During operation of the refrigerator appliance, the compressor operates to provide compressed refrigerant. The refrigerator appliance utilizes such compressed refrigerant to cool a compartment of the appliance and food items located therein. Recently, linear compressors have been used to compress refrigerant in refrigerator appliances. Linear compressors can include a piston and a driving coil. The driving coil receives a current in order to generate a force that slides the piston backward and forwards within a chamber to compress refrigerant.
Appliance compressors are frequently enclosed within a hermetic shell that the refrigerant flows through during operation of the compressors. The hermetic shell contains the refrigerant but proving a reliable seal around a refrigerant conduit that extends through the hermetic shell can be difficult. Certain compressors include a metal refrigerant conduit that extends between a discharge valve and the hermetic shell. To seal the connection between the metal refrigerant conduit and the hermetic shell, the metal refrigerant conduit is brazed to the hermetic shell. However, reliably brazing the metal refrigerant conduit to the hermetic shell is a labor intensive and expensive process.
Accordingly, a compressor with features for reliably sealing an interface between a refrigerant conduit and a hermetic shell would be useful.